Self-closing basin-cock.



Patented Nov, 21, 1911.

unrrED STATES new OFFICE.

HENRY MUELLER AND ANTON C. SCHUERJIANN, OI DECATUR. ILLINOIS; ORA B.

MUELLER AND ADOLPH MUELLER. IE

XECUTOIRS 0F SAID HENRY MUELLER,

DECEASED. ASSIGNORS TO H. MUELLER MANUFACTURING 0011 111351, OF DECATUR,ILLINOIS. A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SELF-CLOSING BASIN-COCK.

Specification of Letters Itatent. Patented Nov. 21, 1911.

Application filed March 10, 1910. Serial No. 548,411.

To all whom ifmay concern:

more expensive than others now in use,

Be it known that we, Hnxnr ML'ELun: which is easily handled andrepaired, and is and AxToN U. SClllfl-IRMAXN, citizens of the UnitedStates. residing at Decatur, in the county of Macon and State ofIllinois, have invented new and u eful Improvements in Self-(l mingBasintocks, of which the following a eipeeitichtion.

Our invention relates to Self-closing faucets. and has to doparticularly with the index member of these fau ets. I

.\s is well known the index of faucets which tells the character of thefluid supplied by the faucet isotten located in line with or attached tothe valve fstem of the faucet. The index. member of the faucet withwhich our invention has part cularly to do is 10 located. beingassociated with an abutment mountd on the valve stem. This abutment isas ociated with an operating member which encircles the valve stem andbears against the abutment when turned to lift the valve stem and openthe valve. l usually the operating member by bearing upon the abutmenttends to turn the. valve stem angularly so that unless the stem issecured against rotation in some manner, it is liable to becomeangular-iv displaced. The index member on the. abutment is therefore.liable to be thrown out of its preferred linear position. Likewise inthe assembling of the cock when the stem is placed in the casing in manyYillYtrl it is diilicult to so place the stem and associated parts thatthe index member can be placed in the desired position. it is foundfurther that when the parts are constructed and adjusted to overcome insome measure the .litiiculties named. the. abutment on the stem whicheooperates with the operating member is subject. to wear, and thatitlost motion is not. present between the. operating member and abutmentat the beginning, it soon appears after the cock has been in use. Owingto this fact the abutment cannot be made to fit flush upon the operatingmember at all times without undue con'iplication of the cock. Dirt, dustand soap very soon collect in the space between the abutment andopcrating member and render the fixture very unsanitary.

It is the object of our invention to overcome the above nameddiiiiculties and to produce a self-closing cock which is not etlicientand durable.

\Vc showone embodiment of our invention in the accompanying drawings, inwhieh Figure- 1 is a central vertical sectionof the cock of thisembodiment taken along the plane which passes centrally through thedischarge. spout; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of this cock; Fig. 3 is aside elevation of the stem with the disk spring and collar attached, thecollar being shown in section on the stem: Fig. 4 is an elevation of oneof the parts 2 ssociated with the stem. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view ofthe same, and Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of the operating memberand the cooperating abutment which is fixed to the stem showing theparts ready for assembly,

10 is the main casing of the cock, 11 is the valve seat, 12 is the valvedisk, and 13 is the stem to which the disk is attached. Mounted on thestem above the valve disk in serial order are a spring 1- a collar 15, aclamping member 16 having cam shaped surfaces 17 (see Figs. 1 and 3), aset of rollers 18 which bear 1:11 the surfaces 17, an operating member1.) provided with cam surfaces 20 which cooperate with the surfaces 17,and the abutment 21 associated with the operating member 19. All ofthese elements, except the collar 15 and the abutment 21, are iooselymounted on the stem. In other words. excepting the collar 15 and theabutment 21, the remaining elements simply surround the stem.

The collar member 15 is shown in section in Fig. 3, in elevation in Fig.4, and in bot.- tom plan in Fig. 5. This member is splincd on the valvestem by a. pin 22 which passes through the stem and engages the collarin slot 23 cut transversely of the collar from its under side. The depthof this slot is such as to admit. the vertical movement 01' the valvestem through a certain range. In the. bottom of this collar is formed asocket 2t which receives the end of the spring 14. The top of the collaris provided with a flange 25 which bears on a seat 26 formed for it ontop of the. casing 10, and against which it. is clamped by means of theclamping member 16. The clamping member 16 ed engaging surface 27 whichengages directly in frictional contact the extended top surface of thecollar 15. Itis to be oh-- served that the extended engaging surfaces ofthe gollar 15 and the clamping member 16 respectively. are of muchgreater area than the small engaging surfaces of the valve seat andvalve disk respectively. A rubber or other packing 29 is provided justabove the collar 15 and within a recess in the clamping member 16.

Above operating member 19, the abutment :21 is provided with an engagingSUP face 30. Preferably this' engaging surface is formed on an annularring of antifrictional metal seated in a socket on the underneath sideofthe abutment. In order to compensate for wear this engaging surfaceinstead of bearing directly upon the top of the operating member 19 ismade to bear upon an annular upward projection or ilange 33. Due both tolost motion incident to wear and to need for adjustment of the abutment21 to the desired position there needs be a space 34 between theabutment 2t and operating member 19. This space soon becomes filled withdirt and soapy materials if it is left opened. '0 provide an annularband or ring 35 seated in a socket 3:? on the underside of the abutment21 near its outer edge and bearing loosely on the top of the operatingmember 19, to keep this space 34 closed. We form the socket 35 of adepth sutlicicnt to allow for the adjustment of the index member and theabutment, without clamping the space closing member 35 tightly.

With a cock constructed in the manner described the index member isreadily adjusted to any position desired with ease. The adjustment ispreferably made. in the assembly of the valve, though it can be done. bya plumber with equal-facility when the lixture is installed. Theprocedure is as follows: All of the parts of the valve may be removedfrom the casing by removing first the abutment 2!, which it is to henoted is held in position by a screw 18 entering one of the slots 18 inthe upper end of the wtem. and then the clamping member 16.

' All of the parts of the valve associated with spr ng ll causes arelatively great frictional c mta t, greater than the frictional contactof the disk 11 with its seat. The result is her 19.

2 1,o09,es1

.that the valve tem through the pin 22 and being screwed down, until thellange 25 of the cellar strikes the seat 26 on top of the casing androtary motion of the clamping member is stopped. Thcn the rollers 18 andoperating member 19 are placed in position on the stem, next thering'ilfi is placed over the stem 13 resting upon the operating mem-After this the abutment 21 is screwed on the stem so that there is alittle lost motion between abutment 21. and operating member 19. Thenthe abutment 31 is locked to the stem with set screw 18, its pointentering one of the slots 18". Assume that the index member is then inthe 15 position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. This positionisohserved by the operator. and noted by him as being 45 from theposition at right angles to the spout 10 of the co k. If it is'desiredthat the index he fixed in the position at'right. angles to the that itbe turned counter-chickwise through an'angle of 45". To do this theoperator simply unscrews the clamping -memher 1G a few revolutions, justfar enough to loosen up the parts and relieve in some measure the upwardpressure of the spring 14 through the collar 15 on the clamping mcmher.The clamping member is then held by hand and in fixed position withrespect tothe casing ll), illlt; the abutment and stem are turnedcounter-clmkwise through 45' by hand or by using a wrench on theabutment. Holding the abutment in its adjusted position with respect tothe clamping member, the clamping member is then promptly 5 screwed hackinto place. and until it clamps the flange 25 to its seat .36 on thecasin On account of the extended engaging surfaces and frictionalcontact of the. collar 15 and clamping member l6 thcl'c is no slip 'iagebetween them, and the valve stem. and hence the abutment 21 and indexmember is maintained in the same angular relation with respc t to theclamping member it; to which it is adjusted, and the index'mcmber isaltcr this adjustment in the right position when the clamping member isscrewed up lirmly. The abutment Ql need n t be held by hand unless it isfound that the stem turns within the clamping nu-mhcr.Likewiseadjustment of the index member may be made to any otherposition, and when so adjusted is held rigidly in position by virtue ofthe lirm engagement of the llange. 25 of the. collar 15 with its seat.96.

By virlmof the proiisiou r a plurality f slo s i at the upper cnd of thevalve stem the abutment may be locked in any ne of i=\ll'ill angularpositions with re pe t to the stem b the Hl screw l This mak it possibleto minimize the angular adjustment of the index member and stem withrespect to the spout, as the abutment can then he set with the lockingscrew 18 in the slot 18" which places the index in the position nearestto that desired. and which at same time positions the abutment c..enough to the operating member 15) to prevent undue lost motion.

The operating member, the space closing member and the abutment areassembled on the stem in the order shown in Fig. and in assembledrelation as shown in Fig. 1. As thesocliet' 35 for the space closingmember 35 is of greater depth than will allow the member 35' th beclamped tightly between the operating member 19 nd th abutment it. theengaging surface So of the abutment is engaged by the operating menn herwhen the valve is operated and all wear is taken by the proper surfaces.'ithin the ordinary limits of wear upon the surface 30 of the abutment.and adjustment of the index member. the space l sing memberlifi remainsloose in its socket. and bearing upon the upper surface of the operatimmember. effectually excludes dirt and tilth from the space between theabutment and operating member.

\Vhat we claim is:

1. A valve structure embodying two members positioned end to endadjacent each othe and each having end portions spa ed apart. fromportions of the other member. a. socket in the end of one memberadjacent its peripheral edge portion. and a space closing member enteredin said socket and extending across the space between said memhers andbearing loosely on the other memher.

2. A vaive 'strl'tctare embodying two members positioned end to endadjarent ea h other. and each havin; end p rtions spaced apart fromportions of the other member. and means which prevents the accumulationof dirt between said will poltions comprising a' separate band ot nictalone end of which is titted on the ne member. and the other end of whi hbear t tt'ilX.

the other member, and each member having a portion spaced apart from theother memher, a socket in the topper of said inemb-n-s, adjacent theedges of s :'t space, 2 d a. snare closing member entered in said socketand hearing on said other member.

5. In a s-elf'ctosing var A a casing, a valve seat, a valve. di k,avalve stem, a collar splined on said stem, 21 seat for said collar onsaid casing. and a charming memher adjusted to clamp said collar to itsseat on said casing. and a spring between the valve disk and the collar,and an indicator associated with said stem. v

G. In a self-(losing valve, a casing. a valve seat. a valve disk, avalve stem. a collar splined on said stem. :1 seat in said collar onsaid casing, a clamping member which clamps said collar to said casing,a socket. in the bottom of said collar, a sprint, surrounding said stemand bearing with one end in said socket. and with the other end on saiddisk, and an indicator associated with said stem.

7. In a self-closing valve, a casing. a valve seat. a valve dish. avalve stem, a collar splined on said stem. a seat for said collar onsaid casing. a clamping member which clamps said collar to its seat onsaid casing, the engaging surfaces of said collar and clamping'memberhaving greater frictional contact'than the engaging surfaces of thevalve dist; and seat, and an indicating member assmriated with saidstem.

8. In a self-closing valve, a casing, a valve seat, a valve dish. avalve stem, an adjustable collar splined on said stem. a seat for saidcollar on said casing, a clamping memher which is adapted to clamp saidcollar.

to its seat, and an indicating member associated with said stem.

9. In a self'closing valve. a casing, a valve seat. a valve dish. avalve stem. an adjustable collar splined on said st m. :1 seat for saidcollar on said casing. a clamping member which is adapt d to clamp saidcollar to its seat. an abutment secured to the stem and carrying anindicating member. an operatingg nuanber for the valve surrounding saidstem and engaging said abutment. said abutment and said operating membereach having a portion spaced from the uther member, and a space closingmember between said abutment and said ope -ating member. I

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our ha ads in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

HENRY MUELLER. AN'I'OX C. SCHUERMANNL 'it nessest h. l. atolinmnn, W. R.Gtzs'rix.

